The Capitol Forum

Latest Episodes:

Is Roblox Safe for Kids? Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

How did a popular children's game become rife with sexual abuse?

In the debut episode of The Capitol Forum Investigates, technology and privacy reporter Ethan Ehrenhaft explains why the video game maker Roblox is mired in dozens of lawsuits related to child safety on their platform, and how an investigation from The Capitol Forum revealed the vast safety flaws on Roblox's platform, which several lawsuits argue enables sexual predators to easily abuse children.

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The Future of Antitrust Enforcement: A Conversation with Michael Kades & Adam Gitlin Nov 12, 2025

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In this episode, Teddy Downey, Executive Editor of The Capitol Forumsits down with Michael Kades, Antitrust Partner at Nachawati Law Group and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and Adam Gitlin, Chief of the Antitrust and Nonprofit Enforcement Section at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

Together, they will explore how state-level enforcers are shaping the next phase of antitrust policy and what their growing influence means for markets, consumers, and competition nationwide.

The Antitrust Case Against AI Overviews with Madhavi Singh Nov 10, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, we’re joined by Mahdavi Singh Deputy Director of the Thurman Arnold Project and Resident Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School to discuss how Google's integration of A.I. overviews could extend its search monopoly and the legal arguments that it could violate antitrust law.

Presidential Tariffs and Executive Power: Legal Challenges to the IEEPA Tariffs Nov 10, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Teddy Downey sits down with Kathleen Claussen, Professor of Law at Georgetown University, and Beth Baltzan Senior Advisor at The Capitol Forum and former Counselor for Trade and Investment to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, for a discussion on the legality of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Lower Artificial Intelligence Literacy Predicts Greater AI Receptivity with Chiara Longoni Nov 10, 2025

Show notes

How does understanding AI change the way we trust it?

In this interview with The Capitol Forum’s Executive Editor & CEO, Teddy Downey, Chiara Longoni, Associate Professor of Marketing at Bocconi University and co-author of “Lower Artificial Intelligence Literacy Predicts Greater AI Receptivity,” explains the methodology and surprising findings from her research on AI literacy.

“Mars/Kellanova: EC Leaning Towards Clearing Deal, Sources Say” with Javier Espinoza Nov 10, 2025

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In this episode, Europe Executive Editor Javier Espinoza sits down with Senior Editor Jeff Bliss to discuss his reporting on the European Commission's review of the proposed $36 billion merger between Mars and Kellanova.

U.S. v. Google Remedies with John Newman Nov 10, 2025

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In this conversation, Professor John Newman, from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, former FTC official and DOJ antitrust trial attorney, shares insights on Judge Amit Mehta’s decision, the specific measures imposed on Google, and what it signals for the future of Big Tech regulation.

Price Discrimination Laws—the Dormant Half of Our Antitrust Laws that Can Save Our Economy Aug 14, 2025

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In this Capitol Forum podcast, Executive Editor Teddy Downey speaks with Catherine Simonsen—co-founder of the newly launched Simonson Susman LLP and former FTC antitrust enforcer—about the long-neglected Robinson-Patman Act.

Together, they dissect how underenforcement of price discrimination laws has contributed to excessive consolidation, economic rent extraction, and the quiet hollowing-out of American small businesses.

Simonson outlines legal strategies to revive these laws and challenge dominant “power buyers” like Walmart and Amazon, and explains how price discrimination distorts the supply chain from producer to pharmacy shelf. This is antitrust not as theory, but as practice.

How Courts Interpret Copyright in the Age of AI Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

Generative AI is testing the limits of copyright law — and the courts are starting to weigh in.

Teddy Downey speaks with Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, about:

The legal stakes of AI training on copyrighted works

-Conflicting rulings in California courts

-How the Warhol decision could influence AI copyright cases

-The importance of a healthy licensing market

-What’s at risk for creators and the economy

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Steris/Synergy a Decade Out: A Retrospective Assessment Aug 05, 2025

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In this episode, Capitol Forum’s Nate Soderstrom sits down with Jeremy Sanford, partner at Econic Partners and former FTC economist, to discuss his new paper on the 2015 Steris/Synergy merger—a key potential competition case that was litigated but allowed to proceed.

Jeremy walks through:

Why the FTC brought the case

-The court’s reasoning in denying the injunction

-What we’ve learned from 10 years of post-merger evidence

-How this case fits into broader merger enforcement and guideline updates

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